Sedirea
by Valkyrie Vanquish
Summary: InuKag. Someday, somewhere Kagome began a new life, but the thing with luck was that she never had any. That was why it was no surprise that somehow her old life was going to catch up on her in the form of a cocky roommate and his girlfriend. It was obvio
1. Chapter 1

**Sedirea**

**By: Valkyrie Vanquish**

Summary: Inu/Kag. Someday, somewhere Kagome began a new life, but the thing with luck was that she never had any. That was why it was no surprise that somehow her old life was going to catch up on her in the form of a cocky roommate and his girlfriend. It was obvious; gods hated Higurashi Kagome.

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_**Cattleya**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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Kagome sighed as she felt a gentle breeze swept across her naked nape, cooling her slightly. She had swept her long hair into a bun, but still some stubborn strands made their way out of the bun and teasingly tickling her skin along with the gentle wind. A flush of exertion enchantingly spread from her neck across to her smooth cheeks. She puffed out sweet scenting air from her mouth as she lifted a heavy carton through the narrow stairs.

"Some dorm this is. Three elevators and they're all broken." She muttered grumpily to herself.

Finally she reached the fifth floor and proceeded to look for her room.

"Five hundred four… five… six… finally!" Kagome groaned in relief.

She put down the carton and knocked on the door softly. A feminine voice answered her and opened the door.

"Kagome! You're here!" The girl who had opened the door pulled Kagome in a tight hug.

Kagome returned the hug and laughed happily. "Mai-chan, I'm so happy to see you!"

"Let me take a closer look." She twirled Kagome around, and then she gasped. "Kagome! I would've never recognized you! You look so different!"

Kagome smiled sheepishly. "Do I look that bad?"

"Kagome!" Mai smacked her arm playfully. "You look stunning, more beautiful than I imagined you'd be." She continued to look at Kagome, and gradually her eyes began to change. A tint of jealousy seeped in a bit.

"Mai?" Kagome squirmed under her stare.

"Kagome, you're really changed." She went on murmuring as if she was in daze.

"Mai?" Kagome tugged on her sleeve and Mai finally snapped out of her daze.

"Sorry, Kagome." Mai smiled at her apologetically. She spotted the carton on the floor and reached towards it. "Here, let me help you with that."

"Thanks, but I'll manage." Kagome lifted her carton and stepped inside the room. The interior of the dorm room was quite sizable despite what it looked from the outside. The entrance opened the way to the kitchen connecting to the living room without separation. On the left side of the room stood two doors, and on the other right stood only one.

Kagome looked around her and smiled. "So, which is whose?"

"Actually, Kagome-chan." Mai clapped her hand together. "I'm not going to live here."

Kagome blinked.

"You remember when I told you about my new boyfriend? Well, last week he asked me to move in with him, and I said yes."

Kagome blinked again.

"And don't worry about finding a new roommate. I already found one for you. You remember Kin, a friend of mine? I used to talk and talk about him. Well, he was my first crush actually, but things would never work out; he was a player, a bad one, so I'll be careful if I were you, Kagome-chan, but actually on the friendship-level he really is a nice guy-"

"You're telling me; I'm going to live with a guy?" Kagome cut in abruptly.

"Yes. Is that a problem?" She gazed searchingly at Kagome. "I get it! Hojo-kun would mind, right? You don't have to worry about that."

"No, Mai-chan. That's not what I'm trying to say. Hojo and I broke up a month ago. His parents wanted him to study abroad, and I just thought a long-distance relationship won't work with us." Kagome explained hurriedly. Although the story was far from complete, she tried to summarize it without mentioning the actual complications.

"So it had nothing to do with Hojo. It's just that I'm uncomfortable living with a guy. You understand that, do you?" Kagome smiled apologetically.

"Kagome-chan." Mai scratched her head awkwardly. "I'm terribly sorry; I should've informed you first, but he already moved in." She pointed on the door on the left side of the room. "He took the room next to the bathroom."

"Excuse me?" Kagome's eyes went wide. "You gave him the room next to the bathroom? Mai-chan, why can't I have that room?"

"There's nothing I can do, Kagome. He stubbornly asked me for it. I pointed out that since you're the girl you should have the room, but then he ranted on and on about what a sexist I am, and the next thing I knew, I just throw him the key for that room." Mai took Kagome's hands in hers and looked at her beseechingly. "Kagome-chan, please forgive me?"

The only thing indicated that Mai had known Kagome for a long time, was the smart way she made her compliant to the case. Kagome's gentle heart would never allow any pleading from anyone; it melted immediately the moment Mai took both her hands.

"It's okay. Then I guess I just have to adjust." Kagome let out a tiny smile.

"Great! Now let me help you unpack. Is that all your stuff?" Mai pointed at her carton.

"No, actually there's going to be more, but I have no idea how to bring them up here; the elevators are out of order, all three of them." Kagome shrugged in distress.

The sound of someone opening the bedroom's door quietly was lost on the two girls while they talked to each other. That was why they never expected to hear someone suddenly saying something.

"You could've taken the elevator for containers, stupid."

Mai smiled benignly the moment she caught his sight, but Kagome, who had her back turned to the stranger, froze.

There was no way she was hearing that voice.

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_It began when she was of the age of fifteen; she was pulled through the Bone-eater's well by a demon and traveled back to Japan's Sengoku Jidai. _

_She then met a half demon named Inuyasha._

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She turned slowly to face the owner of the very much familiar voice.

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_Then there was Kikyo._

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She finally faced him.

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_And then, in addition, there was her heart._

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AN: my first attempt at Inu/Kag; hopefully you like it. Please read and review.

Valkyrie Vanquish


	2. Chapter 2

_**Laelia**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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She would have never recognized him had she not come across him on that fateful night of the new moon. She would have never understood why this man with blue eyes, raven hair, straight, handsome nose, strong jawbone, and tall, muscular feature owned her hanyou's voice, had she never seen him in his human form. But she had.

And she knew it was him.

**_:&C&:_**

Had she ever told anyone how her adventures came to an end?

**_:&C&:_**

_One day she stopped skipping school, and all her friends wondered why she never fell sick again._

_She was still the cheerful and kind-hearted Kagome everyone knew. Until they saw that the Kagome they knew was all but the Kagome they had known._

_It was not that she had changed mentally; that she viewed things differently and kinder, was not surprising to them. Children grew up; girls grew up even faster than the boys. Hearts that were broken ripened the minds, and each girl had once gone through this kind of situation. No, it wasn't this kind of change that baffled Kagome's friends. _

_It was her physical changes that surprised them. And no, it was not the ripening of limbs indicating a maturing process from a girl to womanhood, though rest assure that everything, sensually and wonderfully so, were in the right places in her case. _

_The thing was, in this day and age, appearance changes were mostly done under knife; one didn't wish for a change of facial features and had it done instantly. It was just not possible._

_So it was a joke between Kagome's friends when they noticed that her facial appearance began to transform. How could one explain blue eyes turned grey or thin nose or different shape of cheekbone, temple and eyes? There were still many things that they felt had changed, but they couldn't point out exactly what. All in one sentence; it seemed that Kagome looked different as she grew older._

_Even though Kagome's friends made fun of her transformation, they secretly envied her terribly. How could a cute girl turn into a stunning creature? It was unfair._

_But how did Kagome felt about herself and her changes?_

**_:&C&:_**

_Everyday Kagome looked at herself in the mirror, and everyday she began to loathe the face that resembled the one who had taken away her happiness._

_It began when she studied her eyes in the mirror. She narrowed her eyes to scathe the shape of them. And the morning after that she realized that the corner forms of her eyes looked as if they had uplifted themselves._

_At first she thought it was her sight that played tricks on her, but in the morning after that she found that her eye-shade had changed._

_Every features of her face began to gradually change with each passing day; each was either delicately refined or uplifted or filled._

_One day she looked at herself closely in the mirror, and a feeling of anguish suddenly attacked her. She wept down with every aching wound of heartbreak tearing inside her. Her wish was granted; she was no longer the face of the woman he had once loved. She had to say goodbye to the past._

**_:&C&:_**

But still she refused to believe it was him.

Until she heard a loud squealing coming from her friend behind her as she jumped into his embrace.

"Inuyasha!"

And there she was in his embrace. Mai-chan. Her childhood friend who moved out of town when she was twelve, who Kagome only met again just seconds ago.

And she felt so betrayed.

**_:&C&:_**

Kagome once thought that gods protected and loved every each one of us. But now she knew the truth; that gods hated her. Solely her. O how they had to have hated her.

**_:&C&:_**

Kin opened his arms to embrace his childhood friend. As Mai tried to prolong the brief hug, his eyes roamed the sight in front of him. 'So this is my new roommate.' He began checking her out. As always he started to lavish some attention to her tiny feet up to her slender legs, clad in jeans. He obviously liked the view, feeling his blood began to pump harder. After the delectable hips came the small waist and his eyes lingered on her firm, high breasts, bulging roundly ample inside her loose empire babydoll cami. He silently thanked gods for camis; his eyes hungrily swept across his roommate's lily-white skin and the slightly blushing of rosé tone complimenting the whole palette.

The moment he passed after the display of her graceful, delicate neck, he sucked in his breath, hard. There were no words to describe how stunning she was. It was probably the combination of her flushed, full pouting lips, tiny, thin nose, soulful gray eyes laced with dramatic eyelashes, high cheek bones, marble-smooth and soft facial skin, enchanting high eyebrows, and delicate temples; all in all, this splendor was enclosed in the elfin face of hers. His eyes started to compliment her silky black hair when he suddenly realized something. And he went back surveying her eyes; they were stormy, and most of all they were teary.

Mai felt the sudden change in her friend's body; she reluctantly released him to check what had occurred. Seeing his eyes were glued to the sight of Kagome, she narrowed her eyes a bit in displeasure. But then she caught herself and turned towards Kagome to introduce him to her.

"Kagome-chan, this is Kin. I told you about him." Mai said cheerily. And when she finally looked at her friend again, she noticed the sudden change in her, as if a terrible sadness had attacked Kagome out of nowhere. Kagome was trembling in anguish.

"Kagome-chan?" Mai asked her tentatively.

Kagome blinked down her tears and tried to control her trembling, not wanting to cause a scene.

"I'm sorry." Kagome rubbed her eyes furiously with the back of her hand. "I didn't know I was that tired." She said softly, trying to keep the anxiety out of her voice. Her hand was still rubbing her eyes; she tried to hold back her tears with a frown.

Kin stepped closer towards her, unintentionally breathing in her sweet scent, and felt lost in it. A strong impulse to pull the girl into his arms overcame him; it was like he had found a long lost something.

Kagome looked up to see him coming closer towards her. Feeling he was coming closer and closer, she abruptly extended her hand to him, effectively stopping him coming nearer to her.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Higurashi Kagome; hopefully we'll get along well."

Kin blinked and stared at her hand, after a few moments he caught it awkwardly. The moment he closed his hand upon the girl's, he felt a shock of electricity ran through both of them.

Kagome immediately snatched her hand back; she crossed her arms across her chest and tried to rub down the sudden Goosebumps appearing on her skin.

She looked again at him. The twist of her head seemed enchantingly vulnerable to him; once again the sight of her soulful eyes rendered him speechless. The girl was a witch he decided; nothing else could explain his sudden attraction to her, if not, then what could explain why her every move and look was creating a raging desire in him to possess her in every way imaginable.

Each of his emotions was not lost on the cunning Mai; her feminine sensitivity had detected Kin's interest on Kagome. So she grabbed his arm and held it in a tight grip, and she continued to chatter cheerily.

"Inuyasha, did you bring Sachiko-chan here? I haven't got any chance to meet her lately."

Kin immediately sobered up by the mention of his current girlfriend. He scratched the back of his neck and answered sheepishly. "No, she's not here."

Kagome froze once again. And both occupants of the room thought that it was because of the knowledge that he had a girlfriend. A stabbing feeling of guilt pierced through him, but strangely it wasn't towards his girlfriend that he harbored the guilt, instead it was towards the new roommate in front of him.

Kagome walked towards her friend; once she was in front of her, she held her arm in a grip. It was strange how they all made a chain of connection; Inuyasha was held by Mai and Mai was held by Kagome.

"Kagome?" Mai asked her again a bit intimidated; the grip on her arm began to hurt a little.

"You called him… Inuyasha?" Kagome's voice cracked a tad.

"What?" Mai stared at her bafflingly, and then her face brightened up. "Of course, I told you his name was Kin." She smacked her forehead. "Inuyasha is actually his nickname; he insisted we called him Inuyasha ever since he had this dream about a roguish, handsome half demon, which he claimed to resemble him down to the small details," –the last part of the sentence was said with a roll of her eyes, "anyway since he was twelve he wouldn't answer to any other name -even his own- but Inuyasha. He stubbornly thinks he is the reincarnation of the o so great demon."

"Hey!" Kin yelled. "I am Inuyasha; my parents just had trouble naming me sufficiently."

Kagome wanted to laugh out loud. How could one claim stupidly such nonsense? If he was plagued by some strange nightmares that obsessed him to the point of identity crisis, then that was his problem. He couldn't possibly expect her to call him that name out of childish-

He smirked. And suddenly Kagome couldn't hold it in anymore.

Tears fell from her eyes uncontrollably. She immediately looked down in panic; one hand covering her eyes, rubbing her brow as if she suddenly suffered from attacks of migraine.

"Emh…" Her voice was too hoarse, she found. "I can't-" She gulped down a sob, and she couldn't finish what she wanted to say, not when her throat constricted painfully, squeezing this huge lump that she refused to set free. And as if that wasn't enough she started to feel faint; exclamations of worries from the two people in the room sounded to her like incomprehensible drones.

She gave in; there was nothing else that she could do except to succumb into the approaching blackness.

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**_C&C&C_** end of chapter**_ C&C&C_**

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**AN**:

About Kagome's facial features' transformation: this is not an imaginative idea of a plot; there is a certain occurrence verifying this issue, which was an episode of a personal experience. I used to have a crush on someone, and it turned out that the special someone liked someone else. Now, I don't know if it was because I had wished to look like the crush of my crush, but as I grew older I began to resemble the… well, you know who I mean. A pathetic story, really, but I don't actually regret the change (and no, it wasn't done under knife), because the one I resemble to was in fact cuter than me (and a whole lot older –I'm not being bitchy, it's a fact-), however, I don't have a crush on that someone anymore, which is quite ironic, actually.

Though in Kagome's case, I make her not to look like Kikyo.

Anyway, happy reading, and please do review. Thank you,

Valkyrie Vanquish

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_**Sedirea Japonica**: small monopodial epiphytic plants from Japan. A type of orchid._


	3. Chapter 3

_**Cephalanthera**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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Slowly Kagome opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was the roof of the room; it was the color of Tokyo's sky in the first day of the spring. Nothing could look cleaner than the smooth blue of the horizon.

She just had an interesting dream. She dreamed that Inuyasha was reincarnated and turned out to be her roommate; in the dream he was again someone else's.

Pathetically as it was, she refused to believe that the dream was none other than her current situation of life itself. Sweet Kagome was blocking her sense of reality. It just had to be a dream then only nightmares could be so cruel.

It was a dream, a state of delusion of a bleak, yet sweet reunion; she kept telling herself again and again. She had gone through so much in her life; what kind of god would plan such destructive fate, she wondered. It just had to be-

"Wench, finally awake?"

And she was out again.

**_:&C&:_**

Kin shook his head in disbelief and exited his room.

Mai came up to him immediately. "How is she? Is she alright?"

"She's out again." Kin shook his head. "Seriously, has your friend a severe case of anemia? She passed out on me twice."

"Well, you ogled her lustily all the time; maybe that's why she fainted on you. Like I said before; Kagome is a gentle creature."

"I didn't ogle her!" Kin yelled. To his dismay he could feel a rising heat of a blush.

"O my God!" Mai was studying him in disgust. "It's like you're thirteen again." She shook her head. "Remember when you had a crush on our busty math teacher, Inuyasha? How your mom was so shocked to find her son entering a national math contest?"

"Shut the fuck up!" He yelled at her.

"Okay." She giggled. And then she looked at her watch. "Oops I must go; Takeshi-kun is waiting for me. Bye, Inu!" She kissed his cheek and sauntered out of the room.

"It's Inuyasha!" He growled, annoyed.

Kin then turned and entered his room. He studied the form lying in his bed. How her thick lashes swept down her smooth cheek, sweet, flushed lips cutely moaning something incomprehensible, her chest softly heaved up and down, her gentle scent teasing his nose, and the pressing tent in his pants. 'Fuck.'

He went out and took care of a small pressing business.

**_:&C&:_**

Kagome woke up hearing a distinct ring of a cell-phone. Mistaking it as hers, she picked up the cell-phone and managed a hoarse, "Hello?"

There was silence on the other line.

After a few moments, a voice scathingly replied. "Who is this?"

Kagome frowned. Somehow the voice sounded familiar. "Who _is_ this?"

"Where's Kin?" The voice on the phone practically screamed at her.

She groaned and then closed the speaker. "Oh, shit!" She whispered softly.

Kagome scrambled out of the bed and went out of the room to find her new roommate. She found him in the kitchen, cooking something she could clearly identify without looking in the pot. It was not the aroma of the ramen that gave it away; it was how he waited patiently before the pot and stared at it as if it was his own private heaven.

And since when had she decided that he was indeed Inuyasha? But there was no denying it now, because everything he did was so like him, painfully so. Even the way he intently stared at the ramen with his patent stance and crossing arms was so characteristically him.

A shrill scream from the phone brought her out of her daze. Kagome quickly went up to him and silently handed him the phone. He looked at her in daze and then stared at the phone.

"Sorry." Kagome murmured apologetically; his girlfriend was going to give him hell.

Kin gazed between the phone and the cooking ramen; he really had no idea what to do. Kagome took pity on him and motioned him to move away so that she could help him with the ramen. Kin smiled gratefully at her. Kagome could really imagine how grateful he was as a tiny smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

His gratefulness didn't last long though. He never knew what hit him the moment his girlfriend screamed at him. The next moment he found himself throwing the cell-phone away and crouched down to the floor holding both hands to his ears.

Kagome immediately went up to him and helped him to his feet.

"You're okay?" Kagome asked him softly; her hands were rubbing his ears tenderly.

Kin leaned forward towards her gentle ministrations to his ears. "They've always been sensitive." He explained with his eyes closed.

Realizing that it had been she who had handed him the phone, he pulled away slightly. "What was that all about?"

Kagome bit down her lip, a habit she did when she was nervous. She didn't notice how Kin's eyes darted towards her lips and darkened a bit.

"I," Kagome tried to explain, "answered your phone, and then the voice on the line was silent when she heard my voice." She continued hastily. "I thought it was my phone; the ring tone was the same as mine. That's why I answered it, and when she asked me who I was and I asked her back, I guess she thought that I was-" She couldn't complete her sentence.

Kin groaned. "Fuck."

Kagome looked down. An old feeling engulfed her. She had used to feel guilty when she had kept him away from his lost love, just as she somehow felt guilty now.

"Hey." She suddenly felt his finger under her chin, softly persuading her to look at him. "Are you alright?"

Kagome looked up at him in puzzlement.

"You fainted on me twice." He stroked her chin tenderly.

Kagome was surprised at his gentle behavior towards her. Was this guy really Inuyasha? Suddenly she clasped her hand to her mouth. "Inuyasha, your ramen!"

Kin blinked when she called him Inuyasha, he didn't think that the girl would proceed to be familiar towards him almost immediately. Seeing her rushing to the kitchen, her words began to dawn on him.

"My ramen!" He shrieked in a volume that would certainly put his girlfriend's scream to shame.

**_:&C&:_**

"You're sure you don't want any?"

Kagome nodded.

Kin looked at the ramen in the bowl and to her. "You want other flavor, maybe?"

Kagome shook her head. "I can't eat ramen."

"You can't-" Kin gaped. "You don't like ramen?" He put the question as if she had, in his belief, ventured a great sin.

Kagome sighed. "There were times when I had to eat ramen everyday for about two whole months."

"So what you're trying to say is…" He still had this bewildered look on his face.

"You'll never understand it, as crazy as you are about this noodle." Kagome growled.

"E? How did you know-"

"Your noodle's getting cold." She interrupted him.

Normally this statement would compel him to begin eating almost instantly, but now he reluctantly picked up his chopsticks from the table and began to eat slowly. He paused and put down his chopsticks.

"But you must eat." He said worriedly. "You probably haven't eaten anything yet."

"I'm planning to eat out." Kagome said and got out of her chair.

"I'm coming with you." He said, surprising Kagome.

If only she knew how his statement had surprised even him himself; Kin never, and he never really did, left his ramen uneaten.

**_:&C&:_**

They found a small sushi shop near the dorm. And as Kin plopped a grilled scabbard fish sushi inside his mouth, he heard a familiar voice calling out to him.

Kagome, who had went to the bathroom to wash her hands, came back to see a most shocking scene in front of her.

Now she knew why the voice on the phone was familiar. And she had now evidence why gods hated her.

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**_C&C&C_** end of chapter**_ C&C&C_**

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	4. Chapter 4

**Caducous**

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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Kagome forced a smile on her face as she approached the kissing couple. But when she was just a few feet away from them she had this strong urge to turn away and leave unnoticeably.

A hand shot out and gripped her arm. Kagome fumed; did he have hanyou-senses too?

He slowly disentangled himself from his girlfriend's embrace. And there it was again; the stab of guilt towards her, not his girlfriend, but her. So when he felt she was about to leave, ignoring every logical reason inside his mind, he stopped her.

Kagome had always been an attentive girl, she was attentive at her studies and mostly she was attentive when someone talked to her. And thanked to this exceptional capability, she was able to figure all out at the first glance; for instance she knew that this woman's name was Sachiko, and that she was Kin's girlfriend, according to Mai Information Booth. But she also knew one thing; in her heart she had managed to certify herself that he was in fact Inuyasha the moment she saw him in her embrace, in Kikyo's embrace. The scene was painfully familiar that she wondered what cruel fate made her go through this torture again.

Her eyes gazed curiously at the figure leaning against her roommate. She looked just the way Kagome remembered her, only with shorter hair that barely fell to her shoulder and modern clothes consisted of jeans, pink shirt and strap sandals. Her traits still looked the same she guessed, not that she could see much of it being partly visible from the make-out session.

She had to witness their kissing for the next ten seconds; how she nibbled his lips teasingly, making him growl impatiently. She couldn't seem to tear her gaze away from them as she felt the pain in her heart went heavier; she watched them until her conscience screamed at her furiously, 'don't do this to yourself, Kagome!'

But it was ridiculous to feel the familiar twist of pain in her chest. He was not who she thought he was, and most of all he didn't know. That was just it. He didn't know that he had once held her in his arms or kissed her until the break of dawn. So she had no right, no reason at all to feel heartbroken.

Kagome looked down to where his hand connected to her arm, and a surge of anger ran through her; if she couldn't hold him responsible for her heartache, then he had no right to touch her.

Kagome grabbed his hand with her free hand and forcefully removed the offending limb holding her. She put enough strength in her action to draw the kissing couple out of the stool unintentionally.

"What is going on?" Sachiko, or Kikyo's reincarnation, shrieked and fell down to the floor.

Kagome's eyes widened in shock; she hadn't meant to pull apart the couple. Instinctively she helped Sachiko to get up, but Sachiko brushed Kagome's hands away harshly.

Once she was on her feet, Sachiko began to study Kagome with an air of hostility. She turned her cold eyes towards Kin and gazed at him in question.

"Kagome, this is Sachiko." He then turned to his girlfriend introducing Kagome. "Kagome is my roommate."

Sachiko looked at Kagome up and down while she offered no words of greeting.

Finally the silence was unbearable for Kagome, and she decided to break it. "I'm sorry about the phone incident; I thought I was answering my own phone. It has the same ring tone as mine." She apologized rapidly.

Sachiko's eyes softened a bit; still for some reason she couldn't stand the roommate of her boyfriend. Maybe it was because Kin introduced her first to Kagome instead of Kagome to her, or maybe it was because Kin's new roommate was stunning (though Sachiko would never admit that openly), but aside from that there was this primeval feeling convincing her that she would never get along with her.

So under no pretense that she wished not to know more about her, Sachiko took the stool beside her boyfriend and ignored Kagome blatantly.

Kin looked in confusion and turned to Kagome. "Sit down."

Kagome shook her head. "I'm not hungry." She went around them and headed towards the exit.

Suddenly he was in front of, blocking her only escape from insanity.

"You haven't eaten anything all day!" His expression was both annoyed and incredulous.

Kagome bit her lip nervously; he wasn't going to force her to stay, was he? "I don't want to disturb you guys."

He snorted. "Disturb what? We're just eating."

"You can't make me stay!" The volume of her tone started to rise.

He stepped back in surprise. Immediately Kagome began to regret raising her voice at him.

"Look, I'll fetch something on the way back. Right now," –her hands closed into tight fists, and her voice was strained- "I just want to be alone." Before he could reply, she already dashed to the exit.

Kin went back to his seat. He somehow felt disappointed, but he didn't know why. As his girlfriend fussily asked the waiter about the list of drinks they had, he spotted Kagome's jacket and bag lying forgotten on an empty stool.

"Kin?" Sachiko saw him put on his jacket. "Where are you going?" Her tone was incredulous.

"I gotta go. I give you a holler later." He grabbed Kagome's jacket and bag and walked out of the sushi shop.

"Kin? Kin!"

**_:&C&:_**

Kagome trudged along the street; she shivered against the cold and immediately hugged herself. How could she be so stupid to leave her jacket and bag in the restaurant? She snorted; it was as if she had tried to pull some theatrical stunt.

She should've been glad she reasoned to herself; at least now she knew she wasn't the reincarnation of the shrine priestess. And yet this fact saddened her even more, if she didn't have this memory when he had looked at her tenderly because of her resemblance to his once lost love, what else did she have?

She was really cold, having nothing but her cami and jeans on, and her legs refused to cooperate with her. She had wanted to run from the restaurant, hoping he didn't try to catch up with her, but after one good mile her legs started to buckle, and that was when she fell down, scraping her left elbow a bit.

What a vain attempt, she ended up hurting herself running away from him; after all he didn't pursue her or anything. She didn't know if she felt relieved or sad about it.

Suddenly she had this urge to hide somewhere and cried, really cried, because for a long time she hadn't any reason to shed her tears. But she couldn't, not when she was sharing a place with him, and anyway, her key was in the bag she left behind.

Her face started to change into a bawling mode, but then she snorted loudly and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

She was still cold; maybe if she let down her hair, it would provide a little warmness. Her hand went up to her bun, and then cascades of silky, black hair tumbled splendidly down her back to her hip. The wind, which had never witnessed such splendor, caught the strands lovingly.

But the wind was not the only one, who had caught sight of her.

**_:&C&:_**

He wasn't there when she fell down, and he wasn't there when she tried weakly to get up. He reached her when her face scrunched up into a bawl, but he saw only the back of her, so he didn't know she was on the verge of crying. He heard her when she snorted and he smiled. But he hadn't the time to prepare himself seeing what she did next.

Never in his life had he witnessed such a dazzling sight, and every pleasant memory he had had in his life began to dull after this moment. It almost seemed magical; the air was suddenly clear, and the night was suddenly not so dark. He even thought that he could smell the fragrance of her hair; the sweet scent of it surrounded him enticingly.

He came up behind her, holding her jacket. When he started to speak, he was surprised to find that his voice was hoarse and heavy with want. "You left something behind." And he almost wanted to add 'me' to his statement, but she turned around in surprise, and her moist eyes widened brilliantly under the moonlight. It hurt. She was so beautiful that he ached.

"Wha- what are you doing here?" Her lips trembled a little, and her nose was a little flushed. She would never know how enchanting she was.

"You forgot your stuff." His voice was still thick with want.

Kagome looked down to see the things he brought her. She nodded slowly. "Thanks." But she kept her head down.

"Kagome, what is it?" He gazed at her searchingly.

"Nothing." She sniffed.

He stroked her chin with his finger, persuading her to meet his gaze, but she turned her head to the side, and when he followed her movement, she turned to the other side.

He sighed heavily. "Ka-go-me."

Her eyes flashed at him with anger. "I never said you could call me by my first name. Don't try to act familiar with me; I despise that."

"Hey, you call me Inuyasha!" A tint of anger seeped in.

She glared at him. "Just give me my stuff." And the mood was broken.

"Here." He shoved them roughly to her. Her bag grazed her scrapes a bit, and she bit back a wince. But unfortunately Kin had noticed her scratch, and he swiftly gripped her arm.

"What happened? Did you hurt yourself elsewhere?" He frantically searched for possible scrapes on her other arm. "Is that why you were crying?"

She laughed. That was just so like him, so like Inuyasha. Whenever she had been hurt, he had always assumed that she had to have some physical wound somewhere. Even now, he refused to admit that people hurt, sometimes from feelings as well.

He looked at her in question, but she just shook her head. "Come on, we're going home. This scrapes need to be treated instantly."

Home was too much for her. A location, indication of a place, but a home to her was the place where the time split, centuries just a leap away. It was to her where a part of her soul had been taken away. Home was a very vulnerable issue, and the question was not where; it was when.

end of chapter


	5. Chapter 5

_**The Gum Incident**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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"My roommate hates me." Kin slumped over the chair limply. "And I couldn't care less if she's not so- so damn beautiful."

Yutaka almost choked on his sandwich. "You're at it again?"

"Huh?" Kin looked at him questioningly.

"You said you'd try going steady, and I almost believe you when your relationship lasts for ten months, but now you're saying you want out? Jeez, what a surprise." Yutaka said mockingly, and then he resumed eating.

"Who says I want out? I'm just saying-"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

"What's the matter with you? You're behaving like a bitch." Kin's eyes widened. "You're behaving like your bitch."

"Shut up!" Yutaka snapped. "It's always been the same with you. You have to make up your mind someday, you know."

"You're acting weird. Why are you so into my relationship?"

"Because I'm tired being the only one with a steady girl while you always bring a new girl with you all the time."

"Jealousy? Is that it, Houshi? You're jealous?" Kin asked him incredulously.

"Me? Jealous of you?" Yutaka sputtered. "I'm jealous of somebody who called himself dog demon ever since he was twelve and still is proud of it? Yeah, sure Inuyasha." He shook his head and snorted.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I am Inuyasha!" He stood up abruptly.

"Sit down, Inuyasha. No need to cause a scene." Yutaka bit in his sandwich.

At first Kin held his stance defiantly, refusing to sit down before he heard an apology, until he heard some girls sitting behind him in the café giggle, and one of them whispered to her friend something about a couple fight. He immediately fell back down to his chair with a horrified expression plastered on his face.

"Now, I want you to listen to me. Try to preserve your relationship with Sachiko at least until Friday two weeks from now." Yutaka calmly drank his soda.

"Again, who says I'm going to break it off?" Yutaka passed him a look, and Kin sighed heavily. "At least tell me why I have to wait two weeks? Not that I'm really going to break up with her or anything. I'm just curious."

"Nozomi is planning to cook us dinner on that Friday; she already told Sachiko and Mai about it, and if you're ruining it, she's going to kill me, but I'll be hunting you down, dog-boy. Got that?" After he finished his drink, Yutaka wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Now what's this problem about your roommate?"

Kin suddenly was feeling blue again. "She hates me."

"Poor Inuyasha, it must be your first time." Yutaka snickered. "Mark this revelation, Inuyasha, not all girls tremble over puppy face."

"Could you just shut the fuck up and be nice for a moment?" Kin yelled in frustration.

"Now you're talking like a bi-" Yutaka shut his mouth the moment he saw his friend started twitching. "Carry on."

"Well, she doesn't like ramen."

Yutaka shook his head in disbelieve. "So?"

"You don't get it, do you? Nobody hates ramen. It's just that she doesn't want to eat with me." Kin's eyes were suddenly vulnerable. "Maybe she is repulsed by me."

Yutaka wanted to laugh out loud, but seeing his friend in true dilemma, he choked his amused roar back. "Hey, it doesn't have to mean she hates you. People sometimes and strangely hate good stuff or aren't allowing themselves to love them. You remember when Nozomi said she hated chocolate, and then I made the mistake trying to convince her to change her mind by bringing her that expensive Belgian Pralines. O God! I'd kill to erase the memory of that sight from my head."

"That's not the case, Houshi; she really hates me. There was this one time she was holding a glass of milk, and then I came in the kitchen to grab something to drink when suddenly I saw her gripping the glass until it shattered; she didn't just drop it; she clenched it so hard that it broke."

"What? When did that happen?" Yutaka asked him dubiously.

"That was the second day after she moved in."

"And? Did something else happen?"

"Nope, nothing. But that's because I didn't get to see her at all after the incident. I think she's trying to avoid me." The last sentence was said dejectedly.

"And she's been avoiding you since…?"

"Since two days ago."

Yutaka smacked him in the head. "That's not avoiding, stupid! She just didn't get to see you by chance. Jeez!"

When Kin didn't respond to the smack, Yutaka realized that his friend was truly upset. "Look at you; you're living with her for only what- four days? And she's already torturing you? That's not a roommate, Inuyasha; that's a wife."

And to Yutaka's surprise, instead of being alarmed Kin had this dreamy look on his face. He was very much in shock to see his friend considering the word 'wife' as something unthreatening that he missed the sudden bright expression on Kin's face.

**_:&C&:_**

Kagome entered a small café to get a cup of milk-coffee for takeaway; she was looking for a gum in her boho bag (AN: no, not hobo, boho stands for bohemian) when she felt a prick on the back of her neck.

She touched her naked nape and found that some of her strand had fallen from the twist-bun; she carefully tucked the strand in. And there it was again; the prick on her nape. She shrugged and continued looking for her gum.

Finally finding a box of her favorite gum, she went up to the line behind the counter and waited for her turn.

The person was still staring at her, she felt. She wanted to turn around and confront the observer but decided not to, and yet the stare was making her self-conscious. She adjusted the tied straps of her embroidered, dark teal cami, smoothed an invisible crease on her deep violet gypsy skirt and checked if she left a trail of dirt under her silver strappy sandals.

She finally had it from the unwanted attention and turned around, and when she did, she mentally cursed herself.

It hadn't been fully two days yet, and she had to meet him by chance. Her painstakingly thought out plan to avoid him was useless. She forced a strained smile on her face and waved back to him.

When Kin motioned her to drop by his table, she tapped on her little wrist-watch to silently tell him she had to rush, but the stubborn Kin stood up, as Inuyasha had been, and his eyes was telling her dangerously that she either came to him or he would drag her to his table. Kagome's smile froze; she then dragged her stony legs to walk towards him.

"Hi." She tenaciously squeezed out small-talks-subjects out of her panic mind, found nothing and clammed up.

Kin smiled at her nervously. "So you're getting coffee?"

"Yeah, would you like a cup? I'll buy you one if you like?" She stood fidgeting like a prey hunted, in anticipation of a chance to escape him.

"No, no." He stepped yet nearer as if instinctively sensing her apprehension. "Or I'll buy you one. Stay right here and I'll be back soon."

"No-"

"Ahem!" The forgotten Yutaka decided that he would be noticed, and then he gave Kin a look of understanding why he was miserable.

"Ah yes, Kagome, this is-"

A loud gasp interrupted Kin's introduction.

Kagome clasped a hand to her mouth as her eyes widened at Yutaka. By now, nothing could actually surprise her; she even half expected to meet Naraku as a dentist. She wanted to laugh out loud but couldn't decide if she should do that in glee or rather in self-pity. But then she looked at Yutaka in the eyes, saw that he didn't remember her, and got a glimpse of the goodness that was him. So she laughed happily.

Yutaka, who would like to laugh with her, did so nervously. He glanced at Kin, silently asking him what to do, but his friend had this lethal scowl on his face directed towards him.

Kagome's happy laugh simmered down, but she still had this dazzling grin on her face that made Kin scowl even deeper.

"I'm sorry; it's just that- it's been so long." A mist was glazing her stormy orbs; she rubbed her eyes and giggled nervously.

Kin was fuming; was that a flirty move? (The beautiful density of his mind)

"Hi, I'm Kanai Yutaka." Yutaka tried, he really tried to save himself from his friend's fury, but it seemed that everything he did worsened the situation.

"Kanai Yutaka? Aaw… your name is beautiful; it fits you." She smiled enchantingly at him.

By then Yutaka could feel how Kin's vein popped out of his head and smacked Yutaka on the head.

"Wait, my coffee." Kagome ran to the counter and paid for the coffee.

"You know her?" Kin hissed at him. "I swear I'm going to castrate you and then I'll throw your-"

"I got my coffee." Kagome said cheerily. She looked at her watch and shook her head. "Now I really ran late." She then realized she was holding her box of gums still in her hand. She offered it to Yutaka, who numbly took one, and then looked at Kin, made no offer of the gum and put the box back in the bag.

Kin's heart broke a little by that insensitive gesture.

Kagome then observed Yutaka with a smile, optioned if she should give him a hug or not, and decided to give him one. She sighed in relief when she felt that he respectably didn't bring his hand on her backside. She would've hated to slap him on that early stage of their meeting. Not that Yutaka would have done it; he was anesthetized from the trepidation of his friend's wrath.

After Kagome left, he tried to reason with Kin but was taken aback by the coldness in his eyes.

Before he could open his mouth to speak, Kin interrupted him. "Look Houshi, I know you're a really good friend; it's just that I don't wanna see your face right now." 'Without smashing your teeth in' Kin mentally added.

**_:&C&:_**

"_Kagome! I want one of those sweet smelling candies too!" Inuyasha jealously yelled at her as he watched her feeding Shippo one of the candies._

"_I'm not sure you'll like it." Kagome said as she held the gum-box. "Shippo knows how to eat it, that's why it's safe- hey!"_

_Inuyasha popped four rectangular shaped candies into his mouth and crunched them. At first it was crunchy and then the mold became annoyingly chewy. He decided to swallow it._

"_No! Don't! It's still sticky; you haven't chewed the sugar off, and you're not supposed to swallow it anyway!" Too late, he was beyond listening to her. _

_And then he coughed breathily like a dog trying to cough something out. The beautiful density of his mind II: if you choked on your food, put in some more so that it would go down. _

_He took all the gums in the box and put them in his mouth; after chewing briefly he swallowed them. Kagome's throat had now gone sore from all the yelling._

_On that day Inuyasha learned a painful lesson of a procedure involving a long pair of tweezers._

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	6. Chapter 6

_**So Long My Love**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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There it was again; the scowl on his face whenever he saw her.

Kagome sighed; had she done something wrong? She admitted that trying to avoid him openly was not a polite gesture, but she had tried to apologize by buying him a box of ramen with different flavors.

Not that she should apologize at all; it was after all his fault to be reborn and to torture her to no ends. Every now and then she still felt a little twinge in her heart whenever she glimpsed at him, and not to mention the jumble of feelings she got calling out all sorts of possible painful murderous attempt she wanted to act upon him whenever his girlfriend called him. Damn him, for affecting her mentally.

There was a reason why she did try to be nice to him though. She wanted to meet his friends.

Now that she knew for a fact that Miroku was reborn with Inuyasha in this century, she wanted to know if the other friends experienced also the same remarkable phenomenon. Suddenly she had this aching to see Sango and Shippo again and maybe even Koga. She had never had friends again like she had in Sengoku Jidai.

So now she braced herself and touched his left shoulder briefly. He jerked in surprise and turned around facing her.

"Kin-"

"Sou, now we're back to Kin." He drawled in a dry tone, but there was a hint of disappointment underneath his nonchalant act. Suddenly Kagome felt a deep sense of pride; she believed that only she knew him this deep, to sense any sentiment he tried to hide.

"Would you prefer it, if I call you Inuyasha?" She asked him tentatively.

"I don't know. I mean it's not like we're good friends or anything." He replied cruelly.

"I see." Kagome's face hardened. She turned away and started to leave when he called out to her.

"What do you want?" He asked her roughly.

And then she remembered what she wanted to ask. For the sake of seeing her old friends again, she quickly pushed down her anger.

"Your friend, Yutaka, does he have a girlfriend?"

Well she certainly knew to ask the right question, Kin grimly thought. "Yes." He answered her sharply.

Kagome frowned at the coldness of his tone when he answered her, and behind it, being the Inuyasha expert, she could also hear a tone of cruel satisfaction.

Kin mistook her frown as a sign of displeasure about the recent fact of Yutaka's love life, so he continued viciously. "And she's a great girl too; I think they're about to be engaged seeing how crazy he is about her. I could also tell that she loves him a great deal, so I won't think of coming between them."

"E?" Kagome blinked, and then she began to giggle, and her giggle turn into a full-blown laughter.

Kin frowned; how was he going to act cold towards her if she kept pulling scenes like this? Making him want to drag her down to the kitchen floor and ravish her sweet flushed lips, smother her laughter into incomprehensible gasps.

"You think I have an interest on him?" She asked him between her laughs. "As if I wasn't groped enough by him."

"That's it." His anger mounting. "If you know him so well, then why are you asking me about him?"

"Inuyasha, I don't know him." She answered him still laughing.

"But you said he had groped you many times before." He countered angrily.

"Well, I didn't know him then. And he groped me sort of out of groping moods I guess. And once is enough, don't you think? It's not like I'd let him touch my backside again." She continued, feeling a bit guilty for lying about Yutaka like that. "He's also famous among my friends for groping; that's why I know his habit. But what I really want to know is his girlfriend. What's she like?"

"Taijiya?" His anger was now gone, there was now a sort of bewilderment in his tone.

Kagome wanted to shout in joy, but not wanting to surprise him she controlled her voice and looked up at him with a dazzling smile.

To say he was stupefied was an understatement, now he knew why his friend always acted like a wimp whenever his girlfriend smiled at him.

She nodded happily. "Her. Tell me more about her."

And he began to tell her without asking why she was curious about Nozomi. "She's okay. I mean she's tough and sharp, too sharp, and she hit really hard." He winced remembering an unwelcoming sting on his arm. "In every way I think she's a buffy type, you know small, pretty but dangerous. And she has some connection to the yakuza, I think; her way of talking is just too strange, and she likes to punish people a lot." Kin rolled his eyes. "Well, anyway I think that the fact she is dangerous attracted Yutaka the most; if not, would you stay with a girl who threatens to shoot off your pinkie if you so much as touch- not that I would grope some stranger- but if you know Yutaka then you'd also know that groping is like breathing to him. So I think that must be love." Kin said the last part wonderingly.

"Tell me more." She asked breathlessly, and the expression on her face was tantalizing him to think of some kind of repayment for the story, like a long kiss or one intense groping. But he quickly shook his head and reprimanded himself for thinking doing things to her when she was being this sweet to him.

"Let see; right, would you like me to tell you how they first met?" Kin smirked; girls were always suckers for romantic stories.

"Yes, but tell me first why you call her Taijiya." Kagome asked rather impatiently.

Kin lifted his brow; she rejected his offer for a sappy story? Now that was the first. "If I tell you this, promise me you won't think of me as mentally unstable."

"Too late." Kagome grinned mischievously.

Kin blinked; did she just joke with him? Better not ruin the moment. He grinned back at her. "When I was twelve, I had this dream continuously." He began in a wistful tone. "Night after night I dreamt about the half-demon Inuyasha fighting beside his friends against evil. I would've thought that the fantasy about a world of magic has corrupted my dreams, but one night I dreamt that there was a new moon, and suddenly Inuyasha turned into human. And he looked just like me…" He frowned.

Kagome smiled; she knew why he was upset. He wished to have his other form, Inuyasha the hanyou.

"Anyway, I dreamt of friends, or I'd like to think them as my friends. We fought together you see, but I couldn't understand against what. But as the characters came up, one always appeared more fantastic than another; there were the fighting monk and the demon exterminator with fighting techniques that were just beyond your wildest dreams. Enemies were such that none had ever documented in history before. We fought against monsters, wind blades, soul stealing mirror, miasma, and tentacles. And no, this is not a hentai dream." He grinned.

Kagome smacked his arm. "The monk and the taijiya were in your dreams, right? Do you remem-"

"Right, about the monk and the taijiya. When I was twelve, it was for me just fantastic dreams and awesome fights; the thoughts of reincarnation or being reincarnated didn't really matter until I met my friends, Yutaka and Nozomi." There was a sad note in his tone of voice. "I guess I never realized how lonely I was with my own dreams, and when I met the reincarnated monk and the taijiya, I realized that to remember the past on your own was yet lonelier." He smiled dryly. "No matter how fantastic the memory was."

"They might not believe me when I told them who they were, and I think they just try to humor me by letting me calling them nicknames of their past profession. But I knew that my dreams weren't merely dreams when I came to realize that both of my friends fell in love with each other, just like they had been before."

He shook his head in amazement. "But when you think of it, can you imagine that? A reincarnated constellation, it was as if life has a meaning. And that we are born in my time; it's too unbelievable."

Kagome wanted to scream at him that he was born in her time, invading her peace with the everyday-life. But she decided to take both his hands in hers instead to bring his focus back to her. "Do you remember someone other than them, a girl or a shrine priestess?"

"Huh?" He couldn't help it if he didn't understand a word she said, not with her holding his hands like that. A blush rose on both his cheeks to his predicament.

"Do you remember if you had a love interest back then?"

His blush deepened. "No."

Kagome dropped his hands lifelessly. "I see." She looked down and hid her disappointment in a quiet laugh for a moment. She tried to convince herself that it didn't matter he had forgotten about her, at least he had forgotten Kikyo too. But it wasn't enough, she realized.

"Life doesn't evolve around you. To remember your past is a mistake, a cruel mistake on your part." She said quietly holding back the raging flood in her inside.

**_:&C&:_**flashbacks**_:&C&:_**

_Why she had to gather the shards, she grumbled. Now that Naraku was gone she was still tied down to her duty in this damnable era. She gave anything to end her mission and to have a day of her own. _

"_The last shard." Said he with no expression on his face._

_And her heart dropped._

**_:&C&:_**

_That night after he presented her the last shard, she followed him into the dark forest. She knew it was useless; there was nothing she could do to change the situation. He would never back on his promise. He wasn't the type. And she loved him for it. His fate was done; the path of hell was as clear as his feelings towards the shrine priestess. But where did that leave her? _

_He stopped on the way._

"_Inuyasha, is this it?" Kagome asked him in apprehension._

_He was silent._

"_Do I really have to go home?" She again asked him in the verge of crying._

_He nodded with his back towards her._

_And something was not whole in her; a part of her began to die, dimly yet surely. She moved back a step and started to turn away when his hand caught her arm. His eyes were moist and he covered his sniff with his arm. The posture was so heartbreakingly boyish that she had to let it go, she had to cry for his pain also._

_In the midst of her breakdown he swept her in his arms and carried her away far from the forest._

**_:&C&:_**

"_I don't- want to- go." She stuttered out her plea between her sobs. "I don't- want to leave- you." He tightened his hold on her and choked a sob._

"_And I don't want you- to leave me." She pleaded._

_He kissed her, hard and frantically. _

_Whenever Kagome was asked in the future if she remembered what her first real kiss felt like, she would always tell them that it reminded her of the sea. _

"_I love you." She trembled against his lips._

_Waves of emotions assaulted both their souls, making the blood in their veins rode harder and faster, and Kagome never knew how much she loved him until the moment she touched him. Never did she want to let him go, because his kiss was too vulnerable; once in the midst of it he wrenched away from her and looked away guiltily, and she thought that that was it, the final goodbye kiss, but then he pulled her roughly against him and kissed her again, making her believe that it would never end._

_It almost seemed as if they didn't have to say goodbye after all._

_They kissed under the pale moon of the wintry night until the break of dawn. She pulled away softly, yawned, and looked at him with so much love in her eyes that he was sure that one touch of that feeling would forever feed his desire for her._

_Sweet Kagome was finally asleep in his arms. He slowly disentangled himself from her and carried her to the Bone eater's well. He was a leap away from the future, and with confident steps he crossed the distance of the centuries and arrived at Kagome's time and home._

_But his arms were treacherous against his will; they refused to let her go. And he had to toughen up his cracking voice when he tried to mumble goodbye against her lips. As if sensing his cruel deception, a tear slid down from the corner of Kagome's closed eye. _

_She woke up in her bed that day, left with a feeling of doubt if they had ever shared this one perfidious, cruel, but such sweet kiss. And the boy Inuyasha, whom she had promised never to leave, left, taking with him the subduing beads, the jewel of the four souls, his warmth, his scent and her heart._

_In the end she was left with nothing to mend. Everything of her he had taken away, down to the deepest and darkest nightmare of damnation._

**_:&C&:_**end of flashbacks**_:&C&:_**

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**_C&C&C_** end of chapter**_ C&C&C_**

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	7. Chapter 7

_**Lacaena**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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"She said that?" Yutaka gaped at him.

"Those were her exact words." Kin said heavily. He reached for the beer mug and gulped the rest of the content down.

Yutaka's eyes were following his movement. He began to feel bad for his friend; the girl seemed to hold something against him, and never before had Kin been so affected.

"I mean, who is she to say something like that to me? Am I right?"

"Absolutely," Yutaka responded. "I mean, I've met the girl, and she seemed quite mental to me. Look, just forget about her, okay?"

Yutaka reached for the plate of edamame and started to peel some. He offered them to Kin, but his friend just shook his head and frowned.

"You groped her before; did you know that?" Kin turned his flashing gaze towards him.

Yutaka gulped. "I'm sure I didn't mean to…"

Kin turned his head again facing his drink. "Yeah, she said that."

"Who said what?" Nozomi squeezed in between them.

"No- nothing, right Inuyasha?" Yutaka replied nervously.

Nozomi was looking at him suspiciously. Yutaka immediately covered his pinkie and looked imploringly at Kin, but he simply ignored him.

Suddenly Kin turned to them. "Look, I just want to go home and-" he sighed. "You guys go ahead without me."

"No way," Nozomi protested. "It's been a long time since we're able to spend time like this, the three of us together. Inuyasha, have you been avoiding us?"

"No, it's nothing like that. I'm just not in the mood for anything. I don't know why I'm feeling like this… I only just met her like a week ago, and-" his voice rising in volume. "This is ridiculous!" He got out of his chair and stormed out of the bar.

"Yutaka, shouldn't we be after him?" Nozomi asked worriedly.

"Yeah we should, since he left us to pay the bill." Yutaka answered dryly.

Nozomi glared at him; she then smacked him on the head. "You can be such a dick sometimes."

**_:&C&:_**

Kin was about to storm into the apartment furiously when he heard a soft conversation behind the door. He decided to enter quietly.

"Hojo-kun, you're not seriously thinking of moving here, aren't you?"

"I already had an apartment, and the transfer was all set." He stubbornly convinced her.

"But you can't; your parents wanted you to study abroad, and you can't let them down. They have such high hopes for you."

"Kagome, listen to me. I can be a doctor anywhere; I don't have to study medicine in a foreign country to become one, and the Tokyo University is a renowned university."

"But you can't give up a scholarship because you wanted- because of-" She couldn't finish her sentence.

"Because I want to be with you." He took both her hands in his. "And you're still my girl, right? It just took me a bit long to find you again. Well I might find you faster if I knew where you'd be, but you just disappear from Osaka the day you said we needed a pause." He smiled bitterly.

Kagome looked down guiltily.

"Kagome, is there maybe any other reason why you said we needed a break besides the fact of me getting a scholarship?"

Kagome slowly shook her head.

Hojo sighed in relief. "So I think our break is over, don't you agree?"

Kagome could only nod slowly. Hojo moved beside her and took her in a tight embrace. "Thank God." He whispered against her ear and kissed her earlobe tenderly. "I really thought I lost you." His lips were searching hers feverishly while Kagome was still in his arms.

A loud "Ahem" interrupted them; both looked up in surprise.

"Hello." Kin greeted them coolly, betraying the inferno that was consuming him the moment he saw them locked in an embrace.

Kagome's and Hojo's faces were both flushed; the first from embarrassment and the latter from frustration. But Hojo quickly regained his calmness; he rose from the sofa and bowed at Kin.

"Nagase Hojo, nice to meet you."

Kin refused to bow back as he managed to grit out his name. "Hayakawa Kin."

"Hayakawa-san, you must be Kagome's roommate."

Kin remained silent. His eyes were focused on Kagome, but she averted his gaze, and then his gaze went down to where Kagome's and Hojo's hands were joined.

Hojo finally broke the silence. "Well, I'm afraid I must go now; I have an appointment with Professor Matsuyama at two." He turned to Kagome and smiled at her. "Come with me to the door?"

She nodded hesitantly, but Hojo tugged at her hand and pulled her to the door. He closed the door behind him and hugged her abruptly.

"I miss doing this." He whispered to her. "Kagome, do you have to live here?"

"What do you mean?" Kagome looked up at him.

"I've rented a two-room apartment; it's big enough for both of us."

Kagome pulled back slightly. "I'm not ready for that."

"That's not what I meant, though I can't say that the thought hadn't crossed my mind million of times before, but now I'm asking you to live with me as a roommate."

"I can't do that." Kagome began to search her mind in panic for possible reasons to stay. "I already sign in for the next two semesters, and it'll be a waste if I give up my room now."

"Well as your boyfriend I just want you to know that the thought of you living with another guy bothers me, and the way he was looking at you back there…" Hojo paused and then sighed heavily. "However, I don't want to risk losing you again by being too pushy. Just promise me; you'll tell me if anything is amiss, okay?"

She nodded submissively. He kissed her hard on her lips and left.

Kagome watched him leave and waved at him when he looked back at her. The elevator's doors finally closed, and she sighed heavily. For some reason she was both afraid and excited to go back in the apartment. She couldn't lie to herself by denying that the way Kin had looked at her before made her almost giddy, and at the same time she was angry at herself for being so fickle.

She turned on the knob and went quietly in; after closing the door behind her she realized that Kin was no longer in the guestroom. Pushing down the feeling of disappointment inside her, she went to her own room.

Suddenly she was pulled into her room roughly, and before she could let out a shriek, demanding lips came crushing into hers. The kiss was hard and punishing, and his gaze flashed angrily at her.

Kagome tried to push him back, but Kin caught both her arms and held them imprisoned above her with one hand. Sensing her next reaction, he pressed his legs against hers, keeping them in place. His other hand caught her chin, jerking her mouth open; and his tongue assaulted her angrily.

Kagome could taste the iron tang of her blood in her mouth, the only indication of his roughness, but beyond that she couldn't help but feeling exalted. Inuyasha was kissing her and he was jealous.

And it dawned on her. He was kissing her out of jealousy.

Did he even know what he was doing?

And why in God's name was she willingly going trough the same heartache again?

The second mental question gave her the strength to push him back, and that was exactly what she did.

He stumbled back, a bit surprised at her action, but the shock wasn't enough to wash away his fury. It was only then when he looked at her and saw the rage in her eyes that almost outmatched his, did he realize what he had done.

Slowly the dark gaze began to lighten, and he felt suddenly ashamed for losing his controls just moments ago. His gaze went down to her lips, and he sucked his breath hard looking at the tiny cut on her swollen lower lip.

He sighed in regret and tried to touch her lips when her hand slapped his away.

"Don't touch me!" She said vehemently. But the moment the words were spoken out of her lips, she immediately regretted them. It was eventually she who had instigated his action; she had let him kiss her; in anger or in whatever else, she had selfishly indulged herself in her weakness. If only she didn't love him so.

"I'm sorry." He said softly.

Kagome felt the sting of tears welcoming the familiar sadness in her; what for did he say he was sorry? For kissing her? For being angry or jealous? For regretting it…?

"Why?" She sadly asked him. "Why did you do that?"

"I don't know." He really did not know why.

"I'm Kagome." She said softly.

"Sorry?" He had to mishear her.

"I am Kagome; Kagome, Inuyasha. Don't you remember me? Just a bit?" She asked him pleadingly.

"I don't understand." He answered in puzzlement.

Kagome started to cry. "Just go. Please."

**_:&C&:_**

He had lingered behind her door for about an hour after she had asked him to exit her room. She had to have cried very softly because he couldn't hear anything from the other side of the door.

**_:&C&:_**

Kagome studied her eyes in the mirror. It seemed as if the puffiness of her eyes was forever becoming one of the traits in her features.

She despised this; she despised being weak, to have her emotions controlled by another person.

The thing was she never really did close her book, and the story was still open, but suddenly it became her story no more.

There was no place for her in his constellation; they had separated and met again by chance. He had moved on a long time ago, and now it was her turn.

"Hojo-kun."

The other line greeted her warmly.

"I'd like to accept your offer if it's still open."

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**_C&C&C_** end of chapter**_ C&C&C_**

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Glossary

Edamame: green soybean


	8. Chapter 8

_**Ryokan Dorama**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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"Yes?" Kagome ran to the door breathlessly.

"Higurashi-san?"

Kagome choked.

"I'm Tabara Nozomi." The brown-haired girl bowed at her politely.

"Higurashi Kagome, but please call me Kagome." Kagome bowed back with a mixture of disbelieve and grinning stupor on her face.

Nozomi smiled at her and looked at her quizzically. "Have we met before?"

"No." Kagome snapped out of her daze. "But Inu- Kin did mention you're his friend."

"He did?" Nozomi looked at her suspiciously. "And what else did he say? Did he say anything bad about me?"

"No." Kagome giggled half in happiness of seeing her again and half in delight over the character flaw that she still possessed in her reincarnated state; the girl looked now threatening. Now she understood what Kin had meant when he had said that Nozomi liked to punish people.

Nozomi looked confused again and then she began to giggle along. "I have a strange feeling." She said between her laugh. "But I think we're going to get along just fine, don't you think?"

Kagome nodded. "Me too, Nozomi-chan."

Nozomi clasped Kagome's hand in hers and then she looked around her. Noticing a few sealed cartons scattered about the apartment, she frowned and turned to Kagome. "Are you planning of moving out?"

Kagome nodded calmly and headed towards the kitchen to fix Nozomi a drink. "I do, but now it seemed as if I have to prolong my stay; I have to take care of my phone line, which cost me more than I'd imagine, and my boyfriend's apartment is far from ready yet."

"You have a boyfriend?" Nozomi's eyes went wide. "But I thought you and-, I mean-"

Kagome faked a smile. "If you're looking for Kin-kun then I have to tell you I haven't seen him either. He's been gone for a week."

"No," Nozomi interrupted her in a serious tone. "I actually want to see you. I wanted to talk to you about Kin."

"E?" Kagome fidgeted nervously.

Nozomi's features immediately gentling. "But we have a lot of time to talk about that later. Do you happen to have any plan this Friday?"

"Friday after tomorrow?" Kagome asked her quizzically.

"I wanted to invite you to a dinner party. Small gathering, nothing too fancy or anything, and I invited Mai-chan too; I heard she's your friend?"

"Dinner?" Kagome bit her lip. "I don't know-"

"Please?" Nozomi was looking at her hopefully.

"Okay." Kagome answered softly. She looked at the clock behind Nozomi and grimaced. "I'm late for my work."

"I'm about to leave myself. Do you mind if I walk with you to the station?"

Kagome smiled and shook her head. "No, not at all."

After fetching her bag and cardigan, Kagome locked the door of her apartment.

"So, where do you work?" Nozomi casually asked her as they walked together to the station.

"In an onsen ryokan in Hakone. I start working there as a hostess since two weeks ago."

"Do you work there on daily basis?"

"No." Kagome shook her head. "I only work there three times a week; today was supposed to be my free day, but the owner called me and said that she needed an extra help."

"It's a beautiful region, Hakone, isn't it? I went there many times before; the area is full of resorts. I know this lovely ryokan in Yumoto and in fact-" Nozomi stopped. "Where did you say you're working?"

"O right, I haven't mentioned it yet. The name of the inn is Ryokan Furusato; it's also in Yumoto. Please visit us when you have the time."

Nozomi gaped. "Kagome-chan…?"

"Yes?" Kagome was looking at her anxiously; her train was just around the corner.

"Nothing." Nozomi coughed. "Don't forget to bring your boyfriend to the gathering."

"I won't." Kagome smiled and bowed at her, trying to control herself not to jump and hug her new friend into oblivion. "I'll see you then." She waved at her and stepped into the train-cabin.

**_:&C&:_**

Once in the ryokan Kagome was ushered into a room where she could change her wardrobe. She put on the white tabi socks first, and next came the juban consisting of a white cotton top and a skirt.

She paused to study the kimono. They had to have quite important guests tonight for her to wear such an elaborate kimono. Her gaze was complimenting the blue white silk kimono with chrysanthemum among mosaic pattern adoring the lower half of the garment. She put on the kimono, making sure that back seam was centered, and adjusted the length of the kimono.

After tying the kimono and adjusting the material around the waist she put on the white obi made out of silk and a braided cord tied on top of the obi. She undid her hair from the loose braid and started combing it. Now that it was smooth and shiny she swept it upward and began the procedure of creating an elaborate bund.

The last touch was to apply light makeup on her face. A breeze of gentle wind stroked her naked nape, and she sighed for a moment, enjoying the coolness of it.

Kagome went out of the room completely transformed. As she strolled elegantly down the wooden aisle, she drew every gaze that happened to pass her way. The owner of the inn greeted her halfway.

"Kagome-san, I'm very sorry to call you in so sudden. Today we have unexpected guests and a shortage of employees."

"That's alright, Hayakawa-sama; I understand."

The lady of the house led Kagome to the kitchen and handed her a tray of small appetizers. "This goes out to the guests in the main guestroom. I'll send in the drinks shortly after. Would you be so kind as to tell Rika-san that you're replacing her shift once you got there?"

"Of course." Kagome hurriedly made her way to the said room.

Kagome slid open the fusuma and bowed politely before she entered the room. There were about fifteen people in the room; apparently they were all businessmen. She moved toward Rika-san and took her place after they exchanged a small greeting.

The moment she sat next to the guest, he began scrutinizing her, and her appearance seemed to please him a great deal as he grinned at her.

Kagome smiled back and poured him a drink. The guest began to talk to his friend loudly; judging from the slur in his trail of speech, it seemed that the man was already a bit drunk.

He made a few jokes and laughed heartily, and then his friend nudged him and glanced at Kagome. The guest, who Kagome was attending to, placed his cup in front of her and poured her a drink.

It was impolite to refuse his offer, so Kagome drank up the cup and then poured him a drink. The man laughed again heartily after he saw her emptying the cup, he then took his drink, placing the spot where Kagome had drunk right at his lips. Though in her inside Kagome was a bit repulsed, she smiled in a good humor.

She had to tolerate him for about an hour. And then as she was leaning forward in order to pour him his drink, she felt a feverish hand brushed across her naked nape. Immediately Kagome jerked back in surprise; she started mumbling excuses and dashed to the exit. Once she was on the other side of the fusuma, she bumped hard into someone.

"That bastard!" Kin was almost trembling in anger. He had witnessed the scene as the fusuma had been half-opened at that moment.

Kagome looked up in surprise at him. She had unconsciously grabbed the collars of his yukata to steady herself; she could feel a heavy tremor of fury ran trough him from the simple touch of his clothing.

She looked up to find that his eyes were fixed to the man in the room and he was ready to burst in to confront the man who was oblivious to the situation. She roughly tugged at his collars. "Inuyasha." She hissed at him. "Please don't make a scene."

He glared at her angrily. Had she just told him not to make a scene? Had she gone mad?

"Please!" Kagome tried to hold him back with her body still clutching his collars when she felt him stubbornly moving forward. "Please." She whispered desperately as she rested her forehead against his chest.

He immediately tried to calm himself down. Unconsciously his hand went up to the back of her neck and rubbed her nape as if he was trying to erase the man's touch from her skin.

She let him stroking her; she didn't want to cause anymore scene, and the hand soothingly touching her felt undeniably good.

Resting her head against his hard chest, she could feel how the shudder of fury under his skin began to pacify. She snuggled a bit closer to him; she could smell the scent of lotus incense from his yukata. How she missed him.

He had gone for a week after the incident with Hojo, hadn't even left her any words explaining his whereabouts. And now she found him here in the ryokan, where she worked, wearing a black yukata and looking so dashingly handsome in it that it made her heart ache.

Women were so greedy, she thought. Gone were her resolutions not to see him anymore. At first she had tried to avoid him, but now to have him avoiding her was unbearable. Only Inuyasha could pull this through, she thought. Brushing the problem with emotions as if it was only a mosquito bite; to have him not dealing with it only prompted her to deal with it more.

And the way he had trembled in fury like an angry dog back then; it somehow only excited her more now just to think of it. She was very much tempted to reward her fuming rescuer when suddenly she heard someone calling out to them.

"Kin, what are you doing?" Sachiko seethed in anger.

And his hands guiltily pushed her away.

It was a soft push, but Kagome had felt it like a slap.

'Stupid Kagome,' a voice inside her head berated her softly out of her numbness.

If that moment she could wish for something, for anything, then she would have wished to have pulled away first. Because then she wouldn't have to feel this touch on her shoulder, soft yet scorching her to the bone, and she wouldn't have to have the embarrassment to feel so damn pliant after the disconnection.

"No- nothing." He stuttered out guiltily.

And she thought that he could do nothing to hurt her more.

As if it couldn't get worse, the owner of the inn walked towards them. Kagome braced herself for the scolding she'd get for leaving the room abruptly.

"Kagome-san, is there something wrong?" She asked Kagome in puzzlement.

"Nothing, Hayakawa-sama. I was going to fetch more sake for the guest." Kagome was about to leave when suddenly Kin held her by her arm.

"She's not going back in there." He demanded firmly.

"Kin?" The lady of the house had her attention now to him.

"Mother, the man molested her; you can't expect her to go back there and have him mistreat her some more. This is not that kind of an inn."

Kagome looked up at him in surprise. He was the son of the owner? Talking about cruel fate.

"Is this true, Kagome-san?" Hayakawa Misako asked her with a serious quality in her voice.

"I can handle it." She knew it might sound to him that she was defying him out of stupidity, but such was not the case. Kagome had worked before as a hostess in a ryokan back in Osaka; she knew how to handle such problems. It was only her initial shock that rendered her abrupt leaving, and she would have gone back there had she not a livid savior to take care of.

"I'll be fine." She extricated his hand from her arm.

It was a lie; she would never be fine now. Not when he had managed to appear before her eyes again and, as hard as it was to admit, to hurt her again.

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**_C&C&C_** end of chapter**_ C&C&C_**

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Glossary: 

Onsen ryokan: a japanese style inn with hot spring baths

Hakone: part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, less than 100 kilometers from Tokyo

Yumoto: hot spring at the entrance to the Hakone area

Tabi sock: a japanese sock that have a split in the sock for the large toe

Juban: Kimono undergarment

Obi: Belt for Kimono

Fusuma: sliding paper doors


	9. Chapter 9

_**Bird without Legs**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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It was past three in the morning when Kagome finally finished her shift. She had worked for eight hours nonstop without realizing it. The whole time she had been in the guestroom entertaining the guests, her mind had been elsewhere. She didn't knew how many cups of sake she had consumed throughout the hours, but thankfully to her long experience as a hostess she had managed to remain sober. Not that she wanted to; there was this aching in her heart that would very much welcome the intoxicating numbness a good bottle of sake would produce.

Kagome went into the changing room and began to peel the kimono off her skin. Though the material was light and soft, she felt as if it was suffocating her slowly. She groaned in relief when she was finally rid off her juban. Her face was flushed from her exertion, blending scarlet under pale marble.

Bending down to peel off her socks, the mirror caught the image of her exposed back; the line of her spine pressed against the skin of her back one by one like running melodies under the tips of the fingers on a grand piano. The beautiful shape of it was yet refined by the delicate facade of the structure.

She straightened up and put on her dimgray tiered chiffon baby doll dress and her black cardigan. Tying her long hair into a loose braid, she stepped out of the room and searched for the proprietress.

Kagome found her sitting on the passageway to the garden. Her eyes were held close and she was rubbing the back of her neck tiredly.

"Hayakawa-sama." Kagome called out to her softly.

"Kagome-san." She turned to her and was about to get up when Kagome motioned her to stay sitting. "Thank you that you'd filled in; you were such a great help."

Kagome smiled. "I'm glad to help."

"Are you about to leave now?"

Kagome nodded.

"Please stay for the night. You must be very tired. I prepare a room for you immediately." Misako was about to leave when Kagome held her arm.

"Hayakawa-sama, I have still so many things to do in Tokyo, and I'm afraid I'm to be expected tomorrow morning at the faculty. So I really have to leave now to catch the morning train."

"But the morning train is at five." Misako stubbornly convinced her to stay.

"It's quite okay. It's already half past three now; I won't have to wait too long."

Misako looked a bit disgruntled; she wasn't used to being contravened. Then she brightened up. "Why don't you let my son take you home? He lives in Tokyo too." And before Kagome could protest, she was already gone to find her son.

Kagome stifled a curse in frustration. She immediately rushed to the main hall and prayed to make it out of the ryokan before Misako found her son.

In the hall she reached for her wedged sandals and put the house-slipper on the rack; she cursed silently as she fumbled with the intricate ribbon-clasps of her sandals.

But after she had finished putting on her sandals, it was already too late. She could hear shuffle of steps behind her; her only chance of escaping them was to hope that they wouldn't notice her crouching at the entrance, but even that wasn't granted. They already noticed her.

"Kagome-san, I thought you'd wait until I fetch my son." Misako scolded her.

Kin, who had now changed into a simple polo T-shirt, wore under a striped T, and a dirty denim (you know what I mean, right?), put on his sneakers and headed to his car without saying anything at all.

"Hayakawa-sama, please you needn't do this. I'm sure that Kin-kun is too tired to drive right now." Kagome pleaded.

"Nonsense." Misako pulled gently at her arm and guided her towards the car. "My boy is not tired at all. He's just not conventionally polite." She glared at her son who already sat in the car.

Misako opened the car and pushed Kagome in. "Drive safely; do you hear me, Kin? And, Kagome-san, thank you again for your help."

Once she was seated, Kagome scooted as far as possible away from him. Kin's hands gripped the steering wheel hard, and he started the engine abruptly.

He maneuvered the small passages expertly, but there was a sense of desperation in his movement that made Kagome nervous.

She looked outside from the window; the late summer's dawn was breaking. A dim palette of violet and red shades covered the sky; the trees they were passing nodded calmly in harmony with the humid breeze. She was very much tempted to open the car's window and breathed in the scent of the mountain stream.

Inuyasha had been able to smell water, she remembered. She remembered too how she had laughed a little at his poetic senses. It was ridiculous to smell water; water was scentless unless it was corrupted with other foreign elements, or so she had been taught. But she shouldn't have laughed at him, because now she knew that everything had its own scent; scents that brought you back to places where you longed to be.

A sharp and unexpected maneuver of the car brought her back from her thoughts. Unconsciously she turned and looked at him; to her annoyance Kin had this slight smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

"I need you to keep me awake." He said calmly; his eyes were fixed on the road.

"There is a radio to provide for such requirement." She said a little too sharply.

Kin's eyes narrowed, but he kept them still ahead. "But am I driving the radio home?"

Kagome immediately stiffened. "I never asked you to drive me home; just drop me somewhere around the corner, and I'll find my way to the station."

"What's your problem?" He couldn't keep the glare off his gaze as he finally turned to her.

"Shouldn't I ask the same thing? What's yours, Inuyasha? Does your girlfriend know that you kissed me?" Kagome asked him tauntingly.

He looked at her in disbelief; he couldn't imagine that such questions would come out of her lips.

"Not that I would tell her anyway. And as if one could call such a kiss." She snorted. "Anyway, let's just forget what happened, and I'd really like you to stop the car now."

Kin gaped; she had thoroughly given him no chance to speak at all. "I promise my mother to drive you safely home." He tried to control the spark of anger in him.

"And you take your promises seriously, don't you?" She said sneeringly; suddenly it was a whole different matter. "Can't afford to break them?"

His expression was dead serious. "I'd never break promises I made to the one I love."

To say that his answer had struck home was an understatement; it was that and more. She breathed hard for a moment and closed her eyes. If he wanted to drive her home so bad then she might as well let him.

Kin turned to look at her for a moment; she had snuggled deeper into her seat and covered her eyes with her hand. A glimpse of her so vulnerable pierced his heart, and within the unexplainable desire began to resurface.

He drove in silence for a while. The roads were vacant at this time of the day; normally he would step on the gas and sped through the roads, but today he drove in a normal speed.

"I apologize." He said quietly.

Kagome didn't respond.

"I didn't mean to kiss you. I really don't know what came over me." He admitted awkwardly.

"Let's just forget what happened, okay?" Kagome said tiredly.

"I can't." He replied, a bit exasperated. "I kept having these thoughts about you though I barely know you." He looked at her briefly. "But you, you're the strange one." He pondered for a moment. "I never expected you to act so- so familiar so soon." He stopped, afraid she took it the wrong way.

"Does it bother you to have me call you Inuyasha?" Kagome asked softly.

Kin smiled. "Not at all; the weird part is I think it's most natural acoustically when it's coming out of your lips. I really don't know why though."

"Why?" She asked.

"Why what?"

"Why don't you know why?"

Kin grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know."

"Would you like me to tell you a secret?" Kagome looked at the passing view from the window; her finger tracing the fog appearing on the glass.

"Why you kissed me out of jealousy." He was about to protest, but Kagome interrupted him. "You did."

He sighed heavily, accepting the fact. "I guess you're right."

"In every life we're given one chance to escape our fate; you were about to enter a commitment, and out of fear from it you grasped the one chance that lay in front of you, believing the distraction was something meant to be, something greater than itself. This might be the reason why we ran away from the lives we had led; the chasing of the firefly that we believed to shine brighter than it actually was. To believe that love could be so much greater than to give in and settle down was the desire in every one of us. But what the heart actually yearns for is to be free."

"That's why you kissed me."

He tried, really did try to absorb the information in his head and summarize the facts. But as he did, he came up with the most mind-boggling conclusion he had ever heard. "So you're saying I kissed you so that I can be free? That's the secret?"

"No, the secret is that you just want to be free." And then a slight malicious intent entered her mind. "That's why you see; promises shouldn't matter."

"Do you know if someone else comes up to me with such nonsense, I would throw him out in the street or reserve a place for him in the funny farm? But coming from you, I never heard anything so dark and helpless."

She didn't even know why she gave him that reason; it was actually just a theory that she kept feeding herself, her fear, and her sleepless nights. The fear of being merely just a distraction, a firefly that fate decided to throw in someone's life every now and then. The truth was, if it was the truth at all, there was this wound deep inside her that only he could close, but instead of closing it he tore it deeper without even knowing it.

"Is this the answer you gave to every guy who asked you out?" Kin asked her teasingly; he was desperate to lighten the matter, to bring it back to the level where they hadn't had to question everything.

Kagome smiled. "Sometimes." She too longed for that stage.

"So I guess there's no point of me asking you to have breakfast with me?"

"Coffee would be great." Kagome yawned.

"I know this kissaten not far from here; I think it'll be open by now."

"Really? So early-" Something caught her attention.

"What? What is it?"

"I thought I just saw a man dressed in samurai armor." She shifted in her seat to follow the man's reflection through the rearview mirror.

Kin froze for a moment, and then he laughed nervously. "He was probably dressing up for the festival."

"What festival?"

"Any kind of it, we have them quite a lot." There was a note of impatience in his tone. "There's the kissaten!" he said in relief.

After parking the car in front of the café, they entered the small building and took seats near the window.

"Would you like something to eat?" Kin asked as he read the menu.

"Only milk coffee." Kagome closed the menu after briefly looking at it.

The waitress seemed to know Kin as she greeted him flirtatiously by the table, and then she turned to Kagome and narrowed her eyes at her. After Kin finished his order, she turned to Kagome haughtily to take her order. Kagome, who wasn't feeling very nice at all, told the waitress her order in a cold tone.

"Would that be all?" The waitress asked in a clipped, snooty tone.

"Yes, milk coffee; only without hairs, nails, or spit." Kagome replied sharply. ()

The waitress gasped in shock and left huffily.

At first his eyes were widened at her remark, and then he began to laugh so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes. "Now don't give her any ideas."

Kagome bit back a grin and fumbled with her napkin.

"Come on; there's a tiny, cute, victorious smile tugging at the corner of your lips." He persuaded her teasingly. "You know you want to."

She bit the insides of her cheeks to contain her smile. Finally she gave up and let out a big grin. For a moment they stared at each other quietly, happy to share the same happy mood, but then her smile froze, and she looked away.

Kin, who wasn't willing to let the moment get away, grabbed her arm and pulled her out of her seat. He put some money on the table and dragged her out of the kissaten.

Once outside, Kagome wrenched away from his grip. "What are you doing?"

"You're not really thinking of drinking that coffee, are you? I'll show you where we can get a better one." He pushed her in the car.

Once he started driving, Kagome noticed that he was driving in the opposite way. "Are we going back to Hakone?"

He nodded.

"Inuyasha?"

"Have I told you that I love the sound of my name coming out of your lips? In fact I love it so much that the next time you're saying it, I'm going to kiss you, hard." He said the hidden threat while still keeping his eyes on the road. When she didn't say anything, he glanced briefly at her lips and sighed in disappointment.

The car stopped before the Yumoto Station. He opened the door to his car and went around opening the door on the other side.

Kagome hesitated for a moment. Was he just driving her back to the station so that she could catch the morning train to Tokyo? "Erm… Thanks a lot for the lift."

But Kin just laughed at her and tugged her out of the car. "You silly girl."

He led her to the station building, and they stopped before a row of vending machines. He went to the machine that sold various sorts of hot coffee. He got two cups of café latte for both of them and went to the machine that sold sandwiches and sweet buns.

"Would like sandwiches, buns or bento?"

Kagome stood there for a moment, weighing his question. Finally she answered him. "Sweet bun with chestnut filling, please."

His eyes lightened up at her answer, and together they crouched together before the vending machine, waiting for the machine to cough up their order.

By the time they got all he had ordered, their arms were full of goods. Kagome looked up at him helplessly. "You bought too much."

Kin wanted to scratch the back of his neck sheepishly, but his arms were too full with snacks and drinks. He then spotted an elder lady passing their way. "Excuse me, Obaa-chan; do you happen to have a plastic bag with you?"

The woman looked up at him in surprise. She nodded briefly and then fumbled with the content of her bag. Finally she found the sought item and gave it to him.

Kin accepted and asked her if she wanted something from the vending machine, but the elder lady just shook her head and smiled as they bowed their thanks to her.

"Inuyasha- Eep!" Kagome moved back as he was about to lean forward and do what he had threatened to do.

"So what now; am I suppose to ask you nothing at all?" Kagome huffed.

He nodded mischievously and grabbed her by her arm. They ran until they reached a train platform. He motioned her to step into the train and followed after her. Inside the train they sought for a comfortable place secluded from the rest, found one and both sat down opposite from each other.

"The coffee is probably cold by now." He opened the lid of the cup.

"No, it's still warm." Kagome looked at the content of the Styrofoam cup in wonder. "It's hot."

She took out a snack from the plastic bag, opened its wrapping and bit in the manju (sweet bun). "It's good." She smiled at him. "Want some?"

Kin, who would never pass a chance like this, nodded and leaned forward so that she could feed him with bits of the manju, but Kagome just tossed him a wrapped manju from the bag and giggled at him.

The train began to move in a leisure pace; as they looked out the windows, the scenery began to unravel in steep, narrow, wooden path, coming in and out of dark tunnels, winding its way through constricted, almost seemed frail, bridges, and along the way fogs shadowing over the journey. It was the picture perfect of mystic, untouchable yet tranquil of its own.

The food lay forgotten on their laps; both hardly dared to take their eyes away from the scenery, afraid they might have passed something or to be wrenched away from this serene almost religious experience of their lives.

Kagome inhaled sharply as the train winded its way through a particularly narrow bridge. She backed up from her position to find that her back brushed against a hard and warm chest. She stayed quiet for a moment; her back stiffly held forward. Protective arms were suddenly surrounding her; at that she melted, snuggling deeper into his hold. She could feel his smile against her hair and let out a tiny smile herself. Kin breathed in her hair deeply as he tightened his hold over her.

"You know I've taken this ride probably over hundreds of times already, but each time it always takes my breath away." He whispered against her ear.

Kagome smiled softly. "Ajisai." She whispered.

"Hmn?" It was like this every time she was near; he could neither listen nor concentrate on the things she said. His senses were intoxicated from her scent and the softness of her pliant body against his.

His whole body suddenly screamed at him to possess her, and a small voice thrummed in his head harshly that she had to belong to him. Nothing or no one could take this moment away from him.

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**_C&C&C_** end of chapter**_ C&C&C_**

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() this sentence was taken from a japanese film; unfortunately I've forgotten the title, but the originality of the scene impressed me a great deal that it just wouldn't get out of my head. But it's not mine. (There, a disclaimer)

Kissaten: café

Ajisai: Hydrangea

**_Thank you for all the reviewers who had kindly dropped some words of encouragement in the review-bank; I really appreciate them._**

♥**_nomadgirl66♥_**

♥**_naien♥_**

♥**_Lady Persephone♥_**

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♥**_Particle of Sand♥_**

♥**_Kelli♥_**

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♥**_Coniving♥_**

♥**_Kathie♥_**

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♥**_pat not♥_**

♥_**Luna-Divine♥**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Repetition**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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**_C&C&C&C&C&C_**

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"Are you alright?" Kagome suddenly turned her head to him.

Kin had closed his eyes and he was breathing hard; his arms kept tightening around her as Kagome began to struggle out of his hold.

"Inuyasha!"

"What- What is it?" He finally opened his eyes and managed a croak answer.

"What happen to you? You were for a moment so tense." Kagome raised a hand up to his face and lightly touched his forehead.

He caught her hand and kissed it softly. "You won't believe me when I tell you."

Kagome frowned. "Try me."

He looked at her for a moment, reweighing if he should tell her or not. "I've been having blackouts ever since I was twelve. There were times when I found myself waking up in strange places and forgot how I even got there or why I was there. After these things happened quite often, I was taken to a hospital for a checkup." He stopped when he realized that her eyes were misted over.

"Hey! Hey," he called out to her in panic. "It's nothing serious; they couldn't find out what was wrong with me and concluded that the blackouts were of psychiatric causes." He smiled at her reassuringly. In his heart he was feeling strangely elated watching her so sad, and it urged him to attempt more sentiments out of her.

"Are you sure?" Kagome asked him in a pitiful tone. Her face held the most heartbreaking pout he had ever seen.

"Yeah." He grinned. "Of course I could be mistaken when suddenly it turns out that they had misdiagnosed the cause of my symptoms. It could be caused by some acute neurological problems like infection in the brain or some failure in its circulation." He looked at her seriously. "I could possibly die right in the next minute." He then gazed down at her pleadingly.

Kagome, who had tortured herself with qualms the moment he had had a blackout, began to snivel, and then her light whimper exploded into uncontrollable sobs. She buried her head in his chest and hugged him tightly.

Kin froze in shock; he wasn't prepared for such extreme reaction. He started to rub her head affectionately. "There… there… Don't take it too seriously. I was only joking." He chuckled softly; in his heart the elation elevated.

"But- there is that- possibility." She stuttered heartbreakingly, her face was still kept hidden in his chest.

"There is no such possibility. When I was at the hospital, they ran all kinds of tests on me, included EKG and EEG. And they found nothing; there were no abnormalities in any of my vital organs' functions." He explained with alacrity. Suddenly her pain became visible, and the sound of her sobs was no longer fretful; it was heart-wrenching and tragic to hear. He could no longer bear it because it hurt him too.

"I'm sorry." He said. "Why does it seem as if I make you sad all the time? Every now and then I did something that turned out to have pained you. I never meant it so."

His words took quite awhile to register into her mind. And exultation overtook her at the realization of his account, but only for a moment. In the following minute she disengaged herself slowly from him. Cold anger took over. Cold shoulders ensued.

"Kagome…" He tugged on her cardigan's sleeve pathetically.

She refused to spare him the slightest bit of attention. Still hiccupping, she tried to control her breathing.

And there went the slight tugging again. The universal dilemma of male helplessness invaded his coolness.

If this was a movie, there would be a voice-over imparting that this was the ignoring game's scene.

But Kin wouldn't be Kin or reincarnated Inuyasha if he wasn't classically impulsive. Kagome felt then a strong pull that sent her colliding against him immediately.

She gasped furiously in reaction. "Inuyasha-"

Now Kagome might not realize it, but Kin never missed a beat as he closed his lips upon hers.

Too late was her realization of the slip. The sensation of his lips against hers was sumptuous in intensity that it stopped every thought running through her mind.

And then he ended it as quickly as it had begun. She was still closing her eyes when her body swayed forward out of balance. She opened her eyes and blinked.

He was grinning like mad. Kagome immediately narrowed her eyes at him. "What the hell was that?"

"Excellent long-term memory?"

Kagome glared at him, and then she bit her lip, trying to keep a smile out of her face. But the treacherous reaction escaped her anyhow, thanked to her responsive facial muscles.

The train came gradually into a halt. Kin stood up and pulled her out of her seat. She took his hand a bit reluctantly, but even that manner was half-hearted. She knew she would take the extended hand again and again each time he offered it, guiding her to wherever he wanted to take her. The sublime, yet elusive, moment that had been gone resurfaced.

He continued holding her hand until they exited the train, and then suddenly a passerby, who seemed to be in a great hurry, broke their contact. Kagome was for a moment stunned; her gaze glued fixedly at her now empty hand. Such was impermanence of unity.

And as clichéd as it sounded, she lost him in the crowd. Out of nowhere a swarm of tourists passed by, blocking their way. Kin, who had thought that she had followed him, didn't realize at first that they were separated, and Kagome, who always acted out of panic, left the place they had separated to frantically search for him. It was devastating; it was a simple idiocy of a slip, and yet both managed to make it more dramatic than it seemed.

The situation took over; as if everything was against them from the very beginning, small incidents began to take place. And the first one appeared in the form of drunken men.

As she ran desperately through the crowd, she crashed into a group of four guys. Having no time to apologize profusely, she excused herself briefly and was about to leave when one of the men caught her arm.

"You call that an apology?" He leered at her.

"It's going no need more than that; our friend Goro here got battered pretty bad." His friend added.

Kagome's face hardened. "I'm sorry." She gritted. "Now, if you please excuse me."

"Not quite yet." One of the men blocked her way. It was ironic how alcohol could boost up the newborn courage of the most coward of an ass. "We're not going to let you off yet."

Kagome ignored the man and continued walking, taking the path around them. Suddenly both her arms were yanked roughly. She tried to scream, but as if sensing her action, one of the men, whom they had called Goro, brought his hand up to muffle her cry. She bit his hand, kneed him in the groin and stepped hard on the foot of the man, who was holding her.

As she was about to struggle out of the man's weakening hold, one of his friend decided to assist him by yanking her roughly toward him. Suddenly she heard a livid bellow from behind.

"Let her go!"

Kin threw a punch to the man near her. The man, who now had Kagome, pushed her away hard in order to help his friend. He moved forward, his motion unsteady so that it was easy for Kin to down him the moment he tried to attack him. The third attacker lunged for his legs, and Kin lost his balance as he fell on his back. The fourth attacker, who was apparently not so drunk, kicked him repeatedly in his abdomen while he was down.

And that was when Kagome realize that Inuyasha was no longer a hanyou. He was mortal, dangerously so right now. She then noticed the guy named Goro picked up a random, heavy, tube-like stick and headed towards Kin with it.

Everything was only blurs of motion from then on. All she could think of was that she couldn't let him get hurt. So she failed to see how Kin grabbed the kicking foot and twisted it until one could hear a resulting, sickening crack of sound. He then brought his knee up and knocked the man holding his legs with it. As he was finally on his feet, he felt a soft body pushed against him. Kin quickly turned around, and what he saw almost stopped his heart.

A man was coming towards him, holding a piece of metal above his head, and Kagome, her head held down and eyes tightly shut, had positioned her body between them in intention of intercepting the strike.

He felt fury like he never had felt before. With an almost inhuman strength he caught the metal before the strike was executed and wrenched it away from the man's hand. He then pushed Kagome behind him and delivered his opponent the most beautiful straight right of the century.

Still far from satisfied he looked around to find another opponent, but the men, who became painfully sober at the time, scrambled on their feet and scattered away from the place hastily, carrying their unconscious friend with them.

Kin then turned towards her. His eyes seemed to hold the greatest wrath on her. Holding both her arms, he brought his head down so that they were in the nose-level.

"Did you just put your body before mine in the fight?" His eyes blazed into hers. "Do you even realize how dangerous that is, how terribly stupid that is?" His voice was cold and deadly.

Kagome's wide eyes were focused on his. And slowly her orbs filled with tears; one by one it glided down her smooth cheeks to the ground. A sob was weakly held down.

And then another sob came up, and another, and yet another, until she was coughing up sobs fitfully; she had never been so frightened. Everything came out all at once, her fear while they had been separated in the crowd, her fear of the fight, and most of all her fear that he had been hurt.

He pulled her into his arms abruptly. "I'm sorry." He whispered to her as he felt her shaking body against him, but he was shaking too; heaven knew what would've happened if he hadn't noticed the attack. His arms tensed tighter around her when he thought of the horrifying possibilities.

"Please." He whispered to her desperately. "Don't ever do that again, please." She responded with sobbing even harder. He subsequently felt the sudden need to emphasize the warning into her head. "Do you hear me, Kagome? I'm sorry I frightened you, but please promise me you'll never put yourself in a dangerous position like that ever again."

"I'm so- sorry they- hurt you." She stuttered heartbreakingly.

Kin's arms immediately relaxed around her; he kissed the top of her head firmly and massaged her nape. "Sweet baby," he whispered out to her. "I'm sorry. I didn't plan our day to turn out this way."

"Please, Inuyasha; let's just to go home." She replied tiredly.

**_:&C&:_**

It was nine in the morning when they finally reached their dorm. Kin stopped the engine and turned his head towards Kagome. She was fast asleep in her seat. He smiled and woke her gently.

Kagome opened her eyes tiredly; she felt as if she hadn't the energy to do anything anymore.

She looked around her sleepily and realized that they were in front of their dorm. She then noticed a couple of packers coming out of the main door carrying out some cartons. And that was when everything else came to place.

Before she had even the chance to explain, a set of knuckles rapped on the window, startling them both.

Annoyed, Kin frowned. "What the hell is he doing here?"

Kagome ignored his question and started fumbling with her seatbelt hastily without eventually succeeding of freeing herself.

She then felt rather than saw him moving toward her. She looked up to the most intriguing mixture of mischievous and possessive look in his eyes. Their faces were only 0.5 cm from each other; she really thought he was going to kiss her. And then there was a snap, and the belt was loose. He grinned smugly as he backed up to his seat.

Embarrassed beyond repair, she opened the door and hurried away from the seat. A hand helped her up, and she looked up to the curious eyes of her current boyfriend.

"We already finished taking your cartons to the van; now they just need me to come with them to show them where the stuff would go. I'll come back to pick you up as soon as I got everything set, okay?" Hojo rubbed her arm up and down while he was speaking to her.

Kagome smiled up to him. "Thank you for taking care of everything."

Hojo smiled back at her; he weighed his chances of kissing her before he left, but there was this fixed gaze glued on them, making both of them feeling self-conscious.

As soon as Hojo went in his car, Kin stalked up to her and was about to question her when suddenly someone called out to him from behind.

"Kagome! Inuyasha! Help me with my stuff, will you?" Mai was on the process of carrying a carton from her car.

They went up to her and helped her.

"You're moving here?" Kin asked her bewilderedly.

"Actually I'm moving in with you, right partner?" Mai replied. Seeing his confused reaction, she lifted her brow. "Ne? Inuyasha, you don't know anything about my moving in?"

"Temporarily, right? Because I don't think the dorm's regulation allows three people living in the apartment." He answered in puzzlement.

"No, you dummy! Kagome's moving out; I'm moving in." She explained exasperatingly.

He froze on the spot.

"Inuyasha? Are you coming?" Mai called out to him.

"In a second." He gritted out. "Kagome, can I talk to you?" He put down the carton on the ground and grabbed Kagome's arm, stopping her.

The moment he saw Mai disappeared into the building, he turned to Kagome. "What's the meaning of this?"

Kagome found that it was hard to answer him. She hadn't anything to say. She didn't know anything to say.

"Answer me!" He demanded angrily.

"I want to thank you for today. I had a really nice time." She answered with a blank expression on her face.

He stared at her in bewilderment for a moment. He then laughed bitterly. "I don't believe this." He continued laughing.

"Stop it." She whispered. "I'm so tired right now; I don't think I could barely able to stand on my feet."

"What-? What the fuck does-"

"Ask me later again why I'm moving out. Because right now I can't think of any polite reason to answer you." She disentangled her arm from his hold and ran inside.

**_:&C&:_**

"Kagome-chan, did you have everything?"

Kagome nodded. She smiled tiredly at her. "Guess, I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"You're coming too?" Mai asked her curiously.

"I guess, I promise Nozomi-chan I'll come." Mai walked her out to the door. Kagome then turned to her. "I'm sorry about what happened to you and your boyfriend. I hope you guys make up soon."

"No, no chance of that." Mai answered her lightly. "It's such a coincidence, right? After you told me that you're moving out, I had that big fight with my boy- I mean ex-boyfriend."

"Yes, such a coincidence. But it's for the better." Kagome quickly added. "Such coincidences, I mean; don't you agree?"

"Kagome-chan," Mai answered her laughingly. "I really think you need to go home and rest, and most importantly sleep."

Kagome laughed a little. "I guess you're right. Bye then; See you tomorrow."

"Bye Kagome-chan. And if you meet Inuyasha on your way, please tell him to get his lazy butt in here."

Kagome smiled and nodded.

As soon as the door was closed, the friendliness in Mai's eyes disappeared. She smiled bitterly to herself. "Stupid girl. There's no such thing as coincidence."

**_:&C&:_**

Somewhere in a concealed cavity he hovered in the dark.

As she was walking down to the elevators, Kagome suddenly was yanked forcefully into a corner.

"How can you just leave as if nothing had happened today?" He asked her, tortured. "Why are you being such a coward?"

Suddenly he moved forward and caught her forcefully. "Are you frightened?" His eyes were searching for any signs of expression on her face. "I'm frightened too, but you have to admit that you felt something today. I have to make sure." He shook her in desperation.

"I'm a coward?" She boiled. "You're the one who kissed me without telling your girlfriend about it. And you're the one who kissed me for the second time in full realization that you belongs to another. So who's the coward now, Inuyasha? Answer me!" She squirmed defiantly under his hold. "And you need a guarantee? For what? For being deceitful?"

He shook her again, this time more forcefully as if to accentuate each of his words. "I can't break it off yet with her because I fucking promised-" He bit his lip.

Kagome struggled against him still. "You and your stupid promises; what makes you think I give a shit about them?" She finally managed to free one of her hands and brought it up to hit his face, but he caught her hand again and pinned it together with the other against her front, crossing.

"What does it take, Inuyasha? What does it take for you to let me go? Should I say that your kiss meant nothing to me? Should I say that? Because that's just like stating the truth; do you even wanna hear that? Do you want to hear the truth? It was just a passing mood; had it been anyone else, I would've returned it too. It could be anyone." She whispered to him tauntingly, emphasizing each word to his face.

And he kissed her. Again. This time he just sealed his lips against hers roughly. Still burning with fury, she bit down his lower lip. He backed up only to move forward again and caught her lips; he gave her lower lip a punishing nip, enraging her further. She tried retaliating his action, but he kept his head expertly out of her reach, though not far enough because each time she failed to attack, he would leaned forward, if only for a moment, to brush his lips against hers firmly or to give her a soft nip playfully.

Frustrated, she kept chasing his lips; sometimes she caught his chin, and though he was able to escape the bruising graze of her teeth, he let her bite him. The chasing game gradually stoked the fire in her, and her movement became more sensual, teasing. Her eyes glowed with excitement as his were darkened with want. She caught his lip easily and gave it a playful nibble; her eyes unconsciously gazed up at his, sensually challenging. He responded by slamming his body against her, backing her to the wall and imprisoning her hands to each side of her.

She realized then it was no longer a kiss; at the high point of their excitement he had taken the level of intimacy far beyond repair. Though it was not the actual finality of the act, Kagome couldn't deny anymore that she was no longer a girl, who had believed that romance was kisses and warm fluttery feelings. The desire for him roused in her, and the force of it was scorching and sharp, not all pleasant but voracious, denying everything.

Their lips met again. No action was permissive anymore as they devoured each other's lips; it was pure want and absolute taking. His hands were all over her, groping her desperately through her clothing, and her hands locked themselves on the back of his neck, trying to push him as close as they could get, uniting if possible. As he kissed, nipped, and licked his way following an invisible path down her neck, he grabbed one of her slender legs and positioned it behind him. In this position the want was evident through every form of contour. Their motions were now growing frantic; his hand on her leg was gripping it so hard, she was sure that it bruised.

"I tried calling her mobile, but the batt's probably off I think." Hojo's worried voice was then answered by cheerful Mai's. "Then we'll go search for her. I don't think she'll be far tho; she knows you're going to pick her up, right?"

"Fuck." Kin whispered in frustration. They froze in motion. Kagome looked at him with wide, frightened eyes while he was keeping his head down. Frustration in every muscle, his jaw set tight.

They waited until the two unsuspecting people disappeared into an elevator. After the door closed, Kagome finally dared to breath. She extricated herself from him, realizing suddenly how wrong that had been.

His eyes silently pleaded her not to do what she was about to do, cutting off everything before giving them a chance.

She refused it. She had to. There was no way that she was able to accept any intimacy out of duplicity; she, who had known the bitter taste of betrayal, couldn't absolutely do this to another. Even if she had to deny herself and the one she most loved, she was set out to do what was right this time.

It was of course tiring to make the repetition of decision time and time again, but it was not as if she had any choice at all. There was this heavy encumbrance embedded in her heart shouting for attention. She esteemed promises highly too. And they were no longer in a time where they could take each other's affection for granted; that time had passed. This was a new story.

And yet treacherously she hoped a little that goodbye was not forever.

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**_C&C&C_** end of chapter**_ C&C&C_**

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AN: okay, I don't know if this chapter was any good, but gosh it was too damn long. Please do read and review.

_**Review Responses:**_

**pUrple cRUsh:**thank you for reviewing, and yes, I think Inu already realizes that he is in love with her.

**misSs005:** happy ending, though easy, is sometimes hard to write; if one cares for the characters that much, then how is one going to secure their happiness forever? To leave them abruptly with endings such as 'they live happily ever after' is cruel to them in my opinion. But that's just me, and because you're being sweet, I'll try to create a happy ending for you.

**Twilight Shades:** Thank you… the part where you said weird is a little ambiguous in meaning, but you also mentioned cool, and that delighted me. I can't draw. The last time I did it was to desperately illustrate types of clouds, and I failed; that's how bad I am.

**Avian Dincht:** it will be rated M, someday maybe… but right now it's okay, right? It doesn't border to anything dangerous that the thirteen above not supposed to read; or is it not?

**orangepencils:** thank you! I really am glad you liked the last chapter; hopefully you like this one too.

**Nomadgirl66:** It's 66, right? Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I miswrote it as 666 the last time, sorry… I did see Spirited Away as well, but I hadn't this train ride in mind while I wrote that chapter. You see Hakone has always been my dream vacation-course, and I read once that the path of the Hakone Tozan Railway (which's the path they took in the story) is steep and wooden, so I try to imagine how it would be like to take this train ride.

**nevergiveuphope101:** Thank you! And please enjoy the chapter.

**elvira-inu-gurl:** so many question… about Kin remembering about Kagome in his past life or he turning into a hanyou, these possibilities are still open because I haven't decided on anything yet. But glad you ask me this, and I promise to consider the possibilities thoroughly.

**Kelli:** Oh dear! Thank you so much!

**KagomeandInu4Ever:** Thank you for your review, and you're sweet, but what is wuv tru wuv?

**sourhana:** That's so sweet! Thank you so much for the wonderful review, and please enjoy the new chapter.

**Luna-Divine:** I don't know if this chapter is cute, but I do very much hope you enjoy it. Thank you for the wonderful review.


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